उपनिषद् · Śvetāśvatara 1.2
॥
देवनागरी
कालः स्वभावो नियतिर् यदृच्छा भूतानि योनिः पुरुषेति चिन्त्यम् ।
संयोग एषां न त्व् आत्मभावाद् आत्मा ह्य् अनीशः सुखदुःखहेतोः
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
kālaḥ svabhāvo niyatir yadṛcchā bhūtāni yoniḥ puruṣeti cintyam /
saṃyoga eṣāṃ na tv ātmabhāvād ātmā hy anīśaḥ sukhaduḥkhahetoḥ
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
कालःkālaḥtime; kāla — time as the first cause
स्वभावःsvabhāvaḥown nature; svabhāva — the self-acting nature of things
नियतिःniyatiḥfate; niyati — predetermination
यदृच्छाyadṛcchāchance; yadṛcchā — causeless accident
भूतानिbhūtānithe elements; the primary elements: earth, water, fire, wind, ether
योनिःyoniḥthe womb; primal matter as the womb of the world
पुरुषःpuruṣaḥpuruṣa; the person, the conscious subject
इतिitithus; such is the list
चिन्त्यम्cintyamis to be considered; is subject to examination
संयोगःsaṃyogaḥa combination; a conjunction of the listed principles
एषाम्eṣāmof these; of the named principles
न तुna tubut not; and yet not
आत्मभावात्ātmabhāvātbecause there is an ātman; by the very nature of the soul
आत्माātmāthe ātman; the embodied soul
हिhiindeed; truly
अनीशःanīśaḥis not master; has no power
सुखदुःखहेतोःsukhaduḥkhahetoḥbefore the cause of happiness and suffering; over what brings joy and grief
अनुवाद
Time, own nature, fate, chance, the elements, the womb, puruṣa — these are what must be considered. Or their combination? But neither that, nor the soul itself: for the soul is not master before the cause of happiness and suffering.
संस्करण
9235cc48e65b · प्रकाशित 28 जुल॰ 2026, 2:13:46 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The second mantra is a list of every answer the thought of that age gave to this question — in effect, a table of contents of early Indian philosophy in a single line. Each word here is the name of an entire school.
Kāla, time: the teaching that time gives birth to everything and devours everything; it ripens and drops the fruit, and it is the mover. Svabhāva, "own nature": fire burns, water flows, with no cause and no purpose, everything happening of itself — this is naturalism. Niyati is fate, the rigid predetermination the Ājīvikas held to. Yadṛcchā is sheer chance, "it just turned out so". Bhūtāni are the elements: the world and consciousness are a combination of earth, water, fire, wind and ether, and nothing more — this is materialism. Yoni, "the womb", is the teaching of an eternal primal matter that bears everything out of itself. And puruṣa is the conscious soul as the sole cause.
Then the obvious objection is taken up: perhaps the cause lies in their combination, since no single principle explains the world by itself? That too is rejected, and with it the last possibility — that the cause is the ātman, the soul.
The argument against this is made with rare sobriety: the ātman is anīśaḥ, "not master" — it is not even the owner of its own happiness and grief. One who cannot dispose of what happens to him cannot be the cause of the universe. This is an observation from experience, not from speculation: everyone knows that joy and pain do not come to us on order.
The list is thus honestly carried through to the end and wholly exhausted. Not one of the impersonal causes has held, and the soul has not held either. The place for the answer is cleared; it will come in the next mantra — and it will come not as one more item on the list, but as that which stands above the whole list.